The field of the present invention is pest control devices.
Yellow jackets and other wasps can become severe pests when they nest and feed around populated areas. They can inflict painful stings in humans. Thousands of people are stung each year in the United States alone. People sensitive to wasp venom often require hospitalization. Several people die every year from yellow jacket stings.
The yellow jacket nest is started every season in the early spring by a mated queen. The queen first constructs a small nest. She then develops the colony by brooding eggs and foraging for protein which she feeds the developing larvae. After the first worker yellow jackets emerge, they assume the feeding and nest-building duties previously performed by the queen. The queen thereafter remains in the nest permanently to lay eggs for a continuous brood. In this way, the nest and yellow jacket population increase rapidly. The need for increased larval food intensifies the foraging behavior of the workers. Thus, yellow jackets rapidly become a nuisance to the surrounding human population.
For these reasons, people have tried to control the yellow jacket population for many years. Specialized spray bombs or various types of toxicants applied directly to nests have been traditionally used to eliminate concentrated yellow jacket populations. The direct application of these bombs and toxicants can be extremely hazardous and needs to be performed by experienced personnel.
Several stand-alone traps have been developed to attract and kill yellow jackets, but these have proved to be ineffectual or difficult to use. Conventional traps typically attract and catch only workers, leaving the intact yellow jacket colony behind. Furthermore, conventional traps are either disposable or difficult to clean.